Messages By: umiami50

 We only know the info we saw on the show today. There is a lot more info out there that might change minds and opinions. I had a feeling while watching the interview with Brandi that something wasn't quite right. Maybe she wasn't being truthful with Dr. Phil. We will never know. But something just wasn't right with her story. I can't see a young man standing in front of a car going 60 MPH, as was alluded to. I don't believe the suicide story for a minute.
Brandi is probably where she belongs. Also, when Dr. Phil was questioning her, she changed several answers. Something wrong with that picture.

Was the boy's mother crying crocodile tears for sympathy from the audience? Quite a show.

 I am a retired elementary school teacher who taught in the Dade Country (Miami) Public Schools for 42 years. I have 5 college degrees. Teachers know how to teach. We have been trained to teach many different subjects. We have objectives, tests, and interactive activities for our students. We take training courses and workshops every year. We are evaluated by our principal. Public school give structure helpful to children.Children need the social background of public school where they make a circle of friends, some of whom they will know for a lifetime. Children also need the many teachers with their experience. Parents cannot do that. Those parents on the program who were so concerned about shootings were a little out of focus. Most schools now have security practices, such as keeping the classroom doors locked, plus security officers who roam the halls, passes etc. A few people will get past security but shootings also happen in malls, grocery stores, roads, homes, ad infinitum. There is no absolutely safe place. Those parents who were so anxious to home school remind me of the ostrich.....heads in the  sand. I challenge any parent to stand up to any good teacher and do a better job. Those parents just don't have enough experience.

 I'm 79, a former athlete, and have many health problems. The worst right now is osteoarthritis that settled in my shoulders, hip, and knee. MRI and X-rays showed cartelege is gone in those joints. I am in excruciating pain all the time. 2 doctors said they can't do anything for me, to go home and take Tylenol which I was warned, after the mastectomy, never to take, or Aleve, which is dangerous. No OTC pain relievers work and they won't give me a prescription. I can't walk for exercise, or ride my bike. Running is out and has been for 2 years. I have gained a lot of weight from lack of exercise which doesn't help. I went from 160 to 250. I can't find any way to reduce weight. I know if I could lose, I'd feel better. But doctors have been no help at all. I have multiple health problems: prolapsed mitral valve, arrythmia, advanced macular degeneration, gerd, sleep apnea, osteoporosis, implants in both eyes, mastectomy, and 2 melanoma surgeries. Doctors either refuse to discuss my health problems and some don't seem to know what to do. I think all they want is my insurance money and when they get that from tests they repeat, then the hell with us. I'm not alone in these feelings. We seniors are being scammed by the medical profession. Incidentally, I'm a Ph.D. and retired teacher, and not totally stupid. I resent being treated as such by the medical profession.

 I strongly disagree that a man and woman with a large age difference should not be together. I had a relationship with a man 30 years my senior. I was mid 30's at the time. We loved each other with all we had, but marriage was out. He was a widower with 2 grown children and they hated me. So our relationship was kept very quiet. I never thought of him as a father figure. He was my best friend. When he was 76, about 30 years ago,  he went in for minor surgery and next day was dead. I mourned for years. I have never been on any kind of date, or even looked at another man in a romantic way ever since, and I'm now almost 80. I miss him every day of my life. He supported me and helped me in every way and I was there for him when he wanted to talk, or not. We just enjoyed being together.  I will always love him. I will always miss him.